International Shia News Agency

PressTV.ir/ Religious leaders call for eradication of modern slavery

SHAFAQNA (International Shia News Association) Religious leaders from different faiths have gathered in the Vatican to denounce modern slavery and find a way to eradicate it.

On Tuesday, religious leaders from Shia, Sunni, Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican, Jewish, Hindu, and Buddhist faiths met in the Vatican to discuss ways to emancipate some 36 million people from the chains of modern slavery.

The leaders, including Grand Ayatollah Mohammad Taqi Modarresi, signed a joint declaration and vowed to do their utmost within their communities to bring modern slavery to a halt by 2020.

“Any discriminatory relationship that does not respect the fundamental conviction that others are equal is a crime, and frequently an aberrant crime,” read the declaration issued by world’s religious leaders.

“Therefore, we declare on each and every one of our creeds that modern slavery, in terms of human trafficking, forced labor and prostitution, and organ trafficking, is a crime against humanity,” added the statement.

Earlier in November, the Walk Free Foundation’s Global Slavery Index announced in a report than that almost 36 million people around the globe are trapped in modern-day slavery.

The index defines slavery as controlling or possessing people in such a manner that their freedom is deprived with the intention of exploiting them for profit or sex, usually by violence, coercion, or deception.

The definition also includes contractual servitude, forced marriage, and the abduction of children to serve in wars.

The report proceeds to say that India, China, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, and Russia are ranked high on the modern slavery list.

It also describes countries such as Qatar as a popular destination for people tricked into slavery.

www.shafaqna.com/English

 

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